Day from hell/ Espace autobox worries

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StevePJ
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Day from hell/ Espace autobox worries

Post by StevePJ »

Bought a V6 Espace a few weeks ago. Very happy until today. Has full dealer service history, every 10,000 miles, and is now at 104,000. Had a new autobox at 70,000. Got a call this morning that a friend had decided he couldn't cope and took his own life. So in the car to see his family.
Driving down and all of a sudden pulled away from lights and it would only creep away. Almost as if there was 'clutch slip', even though it's an auto. As soon as it got to 30, about 10 mins later it felt like, it changed up and went on ok. Each time i got to lights it was the same (and they were all on bloomin red).
Pulled over luckily outside a car accessories shop. Really helpfull guy inside thought it was probably the oil level low. Took the sump guard off to get to the box, but had sold out of an 8mm square to remove the plug. Big thanks to SMC at Blackwater. Even gave me the correct gearbox oil according to his book.
Called out the RAC. As much use as a chocolate fireguard. The so called mechanic did not know anything. The mechanic, called 'Matthew' didn't know what he was looking for and had to call a friend. They reckon it was the wrong oil (I saw the guy check his book) and it would do more harm than good, so wouldn't chance it. Now, i9 have just put my car on a private plate, and in the upset this morning went out leaving the tax disc with all the other paperwork the DVLA stamped in teh kitchen. 'Matthew' sees this, and the decides he won't call a tow truck as the car hasn't got a VEL. I tell him it has...ooohhhh policy, can't do it. You've gotta get a private recovery. Explain the probs and what happened. Four children in car crying. I offer to give a cheque and if when we get home i cannot show tax then keep check..ooohhh policy. In the end, a very helpful girl in RAC customer services pays for a taxi to take me home, 30 miles away, get my tax disc, go back to car and then get a recovery truck to take me home. And still i haven't seen my friends. How bad is this. Anyway i digress.
Any ideas guys. Is there a dipstick to check or is it the top square plug? Am quite happy to check it myself, but don't want to do more damage.
Many thanks,
Steve
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Post by Stempy »

Not stuck in snow mode is it? In snow mode it doesn't use first gear which makes pulling away from standstill a tedious affair, obviously good for snow but not much good for anything else.
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Post by Homer »

Sounds very much like a problem my brother had with his Vectra auto.
Turned out to be a fault with the traction control.
<blockquote id="quote"><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica" id="quote">quote:<hr height="1" noshade id="quote">Is there a dipstick to check<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"></blockquote id="quote"></font id="quote">
That made me laugh. From my experiences with th RAC, AA and Green Flag they have plenty of dipsticks between them.
I can reccomend www.internationalbreakdown.com when your RAC membership runs out.
StevePJ
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Post by StevePJ »

Thanks guys. It isn't showing as in
snow mode, but it gives that sort of feeling. Just hoping it's the oil.
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Post by ljaw2002uk »

Cant really offer anything to help, but you have my sympathy.
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Post by danielsydney »

Thats really sad news but i would say a Renault dealer in the UK needs to look at this car. have you called them and asked about it?
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Re: Day from hell/ Espace autobox worries

Post by ferkemall »

Its a renault bit like their EU buy into it and life starts to get expensive , this gearbox is sold as never having to change the fluid just top up
mean while in the real world any auto box MFG will tell you to change the fluid at 30,000 because debris from the clutches and steel spacers clog up the EMV valves ,valve body ,screen filter and lock up for the torque converter , you have to use the correct fluid if you dont the gearbox ends up with a mind of its own because the heat sensor detects the vicosity of the fluid and if the fluid gets to hot it will trigger limp mode , have i had experience with this box yes i have a modus that wa sjust starting to thump on gear change so against advice i flushed the box and filled with a different brand of fluid that was better than the renault brand that was 2 years ago it stills drives like new ,

Renaults are complex, there are proceedures to observe you need to know them before changing the fluid is not straight forward its french its designed to go into the dealers unless you do your home work !
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Michel
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Re: Day from hell/ Espace autobox worries

Post by Michel »

Dude, check the dates on the threads you're responding to, PLEASE...
ferkemall
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Re: Day from hell/ Espace autobox worries

Post by ferkemall »

Dude it does not matter about the date its the information people are looking for !
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Re: Day from hell/ Espace autobox worries

Post by ekjdm14 »

Dude, if that many were in search of this info there'd be more threads from the last 12 years asking surely?
'95 Xantia LX 1.9D-auto, Black, 109k
'03 206 GTi180 94k in surgery
'03 206 1.1S XUD9TE/veg project :mrgreen:
'99 306 2.0SE cabriolet 95k summer toy
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